Rapha, nice but a bit pricey?

If I were to have a moan it would be that they were out of socks my size in the shop when the discount was going.

Simon Mottram seemed happy when he spotted me this morning.

Idk but I find this tends to happen with alot of company's that start small and gradually get bigger and bigger - no doubt Rapha weren't as big 9 years ago!

Same with Asos!

stitching came loose on all the things I returned

What do people think of those bumblebee-esque brevet gilets? Buyable or anti?

If you have to ask...

This is what I was concerned about.

Defo anti

I have as part of jersey gilet combo; love it .. highly pack-able

I might buy one in the sale. They have 50% off, written all over them, so to speak

Get a room

Good guess. One is connected.

That doesn't match my experiences. In fact, Rapha customer support went out of their way to help me out with a replacement pair of GT shoes.

This sounds typical. Poor response, issues with most orders, busy staff seemingly not giving a sh1t.
Next thing you know the Rapha brand/buying experience/service reputation will be permanently tarnished and the company will start a gradual nose dive.

Already has IMO. Same experience for others that I have spoken to.

Anyone on here have the packable jacket?

Aren't they all, hence a few.

wonder what you think is a poor response time?
a) as i am working myself in cycling industry customer service i really woul like to know, what you think is poor.
b) as all my requests have been answered within hours, not days.

It's been over four days now for me.

Well 4 working days is indeed a little too long.
like mentioned, never took more than 48h to get the first answer, any second or third question within hours.

Summer time is always extra bad service
https://youtu.be/HlgDbTpFYJc

Seems like they have one person working on returns right now. Sent something back two weeks ago, got some communication a week later asking me to confirm my original order number and didn't hear back for another 7 days with an apology that the person behind the customer services email had been on holiday.

My last return (from last week) was completed within one week, odd that there is such differing feedback.

There are literally a million staff in Rapha CS today.

Could there be a Sale looming. Some items have been split up such as the green pro team jersey is now separate to the other colours.

So, finally getting to a point where I can splurge on some new Winter kit.

I'm eyeing up the Winter tights and a long sleeve jersey, however, the ubiquitous question of what jacket should I get? beckons.

I've survived the last few winters with a dhb long sleeved merino base layer, a long sleeved 'roubaix' jersey and one of those Castelli Strada boil in the bag rain capes. I do run rather hot, and can generally lose the Castelli after a few miles and don it again after the cafe stop.

The main question for me is how much waterproofness do I want? I don't tend to go out if it's pissing down - I'll tend to wait until it's turned to drizzle - but yes, you get caught out in a shower and I suppose I want something that will tackle that 10 minutes worth of rain and keep me warm while wet, perhaps multiple times on the same ride.

So, what are we looking at? PTJ? Rain Cape? Softshell? Or am I better off looking away from Rapha altogether at something like a Gabba 2 for similar money?

If you don't have a Gabba you should buy one - one of the best bits of kit around. I run hot and used it with a baselayer - Rapha merino mesh for late autumn and then full merino l/s for colder days and it got me through the winter in far more comfort than I have ever experienced. Even when it eventually gets saturated in proper full on long rainy rides it still seems to keep warm.